Religious Education

Shelter Rock's Commitment to Lifespan Religious Education is Profound!

Growing <span style="font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="color:var(--primary-color-bg)">Hearts</span></i></span>, Minds &amp; Spirits at UUCSR

Growing Hearts, Minds & Spirits at UUCSR

At the Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Shelter Rock, Religious Education for Children and Youth is more than Sunday school—it’s a journey of discovery, connection, and purpose.

For parents, it’s knowing your children are safe, welcomed, and encouraged to ask big questions about life and the world around them. For kids, it’s hands-on fun—stories, art, games, music, and service projects that spark curiosity and build confidence. For teens, it’s a place to explore who you are, connect with friends who share your values, and take on projects that make a real difference.

From newborns to high school seniors, we offer an age-appropriate path for every stage of growth—helping young people find their voice, live their values, and step into the world with courage and compassion.

Join us on Sundays at 11:00 am and be part of a community where hearts open, minds grow, and spirits shine. 

Register Here

For families who may still have questions, reach out to the UUCSR Director of Lifespan Religious Education, Jessica Hess.

Age Groups

 Play Group -
Newborns – Age 3

This is a warm, joyful, and safe space where our youngest children are cared for by loving, professional staff centers play and relationship building.

Spirit Play -
4-Year-Olds – Grade 2 

Spirit Play invites children to explore life’s big questions through the wonder of story, ritual, and play, inspired by the Montessori method.

Woven Faith -
Grade 3 – 5

This NEW theme-based program through UU theology uses a framework of Doing, Belonging, Becoming, Making celebrating inclusion.

Crossing Paths -
Grades 6 & 7

Rooted in over 70 years of UU religious education, Crossing Paths helps youth explore their own faith identity by engaging with other traditions.

Coming of Age (COA) - Grades 8 & 9

This scared rite of passage is made more special this year with a specially designed program just for our youth at UUCSR. Youth will engage in discovering who they are.

Youth Group -
Grades 10 – 12

Youth Group is a fun, vibrant, and welcoming group for high schoolers.
This is a place where youth become empowered leaders and pave their own path.

Every Child - Sensory Centered
Space Any Age/Grades

This new space is a place for kids that need to explore the world in unique ways. They can do so safely with caring support.

COMING SOON

Meditation Room -
All Ages

This new space is a place for all ages to meditate, pray or to just have some quiet time and calm your spirit.

Youth Group: Grades 10-12

Youth group is a fun, vibrant, and welcoming group for high schoolers. This is a place where youth become leaders, where they become empowered with the tools they need to pave their own path—planning activities, setting goals, and leading themselves and their peers. With the support of caring adult advisors, youth decide what they want to focus on and work together to make it happen. This transformative group challenges youth to grow, learn, and lead—building community through activities they help choose and shape. Supported by caring adult advisors, students take ownership of and participate in: 

Youth-Led Worship

Each year, the Youth Group and lead a Worship service for the congregation. The youth choose the theme, structure, and all elements of this Worship, teaching the congregation about themselves, their faith, and what Unitarian Universalism means to them as they are embarking on their spiritual journeys. 

Community Service Projects

The Youth Group lead the congregation in a Midnight Run every year. Midnight Run is a volunteer-based organization whose mission is to bridge the gap between the housed and those who are experiencing homelessness. Midnight Run coordinates more than 1,000 missions per year where volunteers from churches, synagogues, schools, and other philanthropic groups distribute food, clothing, blankets, and other personal care items to those who are impoverished and/or experiencing homelessness on the streets of New York City. This, along with other projects our youth choose to work on, is among the community-based service projects we do each year. 

Bridging

At many UU congregations, Bridging is a graduation of sorts where the high school seniors “bridge” into young adulthood. At Shelter Rock, the tradition includes three milestones of our young people’s faith development journeys: the younger elementary children having deeply explored the UU Values, the middle-grade youth exercising agency over making social change, and the high school seniors reflecting on their faith exploration thus far and taking their UU values out into the world and bringing their new learnings back home.

High School Seniors are invited to participate in Bridging in a variety of ways—some may wish to share a spoken reflection of their experiences at Shelter Rock, sing or play an instrumental piece of music that is meaningful to you, read a poem, and/or be present for the ritual of crossing the bridge into young adulthood. 

Bridging consists of a Worship service in the middle of June, followed by a celebratory picnic afterwards to commemorate this monumental milestone! 

We look forward to welcoming your high school youth into our program! 

Please reach out to Jamie Walowitz, UUCSR’s Youth and Adult Faith Engagement Coordinator, at jwalowitz@uucsr.org or 516.472.2943 for more information about Youth Group! 

As we say each Sunday:

Love is the doctrine of this congregation, the quest for truth is its sacrament, and service is its prayer. To dwell together in peace, to seek knowledge in freedom, to serve human need – this do we affirm and covenant with each other.

RE Resource Library

We invite you to take a look at this collection of resources if you haven't already done so. At the moment, there are hundreds of volumes reflected in the catalog, with many more to come.

Access the resource library

For More Information...

For information on Religious Education for Children and Youth, please contact:

Jessica Hess

Director of Lifespan
Religious Education
516.472.2915
jhess@uucsr.org

Jamie Walowitz

Youth and Adult Faith Engagement Coordinator
516.472.2943
jwalowitz@uucsr.org